August 8, 2012
My name is Frank, and I'm a staff writer at Gwinnett Daily Post. My wife and I recently bought our first home, a 1,400 square-foot, four-sided brick house with a half-acre backyard. This blog is about our new place.
Got home from work early the other day and walked back to the garden to see what was ready to eat.
A couple of garden beans were ripening, along with some bright green Anaheim peppers and a softball-sized watermelon growing fatter by the day.
I bent low to the cucumber plants, pushing aside the thorny vines, which seemed bent on taking over the whole backyard.
Plucking a good-sized vegetable hiding behind the leaves, I went back inside the house and put it on the cutting board.
There's nothing quite like a fresh cucumber sandwich on a sweltering summer day.
by Frank Reddy
Now, admittedly, this simple culinary delight is new to me. In fact, my wife made me my first ever cucumber sandwich fairly recently after a trip to the in-laws.
On a lazy Sunday afternoon, we were visiting her parents' house in Gainesville. They've got a garden plot in the backyard bigger than you can imagine. I couldn't tell you, acre-wise, but it's a sight to behold.
Her mom and dad gave me a tour. It was like a jungle of plentiful produce. Plants drooped low with fat, juicy vegetables.
by Frank Reddy
Squash, Okra, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and yes, cucumbers. A million of them. Her dad told me half the challenge was finding them before they got too big and the seeds grew hard and inedible.
He pulled a veggie off the vine as an example, one that had for too long been passed over and had become like a mutant Louisville Slugger.
But it was the exception to the rule. When we got inside, her mom gave me a grocery bag full of perfectly-sculpted, homegrown squash, tomatoes and cucumbers.
When we got home Joy sliced up a couple of the cucumbers. On toasted wheat bread, she slathered mayonnaise, and generously sprinkled it with salt and pepper. On top of that, thinly sliced cucumbers. So simple. And yet so refreshingly good.
by Frank Reddy
So as I put together my own cucumber sandwich on Monday afternoon, I followed the same guidelines. I kept it simple.
But if you Google 'cucumber sandwich recipe' you'll find a wide variety of methods for combining bread and veggies. Some folks seem to favor cream cheese, lemon juice and other flavorful additions to enhance their sandwich.
Do you have any secret ingredients or different takes on the classic concoction?
Comments
Susan 9 months, 1 week ago
I grew up on cucumber sandwiches, too, but they were on squishy white bread and cut up in flower and circle shapes, served at church socials by ladies with blue hair. Wow! Now we have "he-man" cucumber sandwiches on whole slices of dark bread? Bet they even go well with beer! Looks like they're not just for little old ladies anymore!
Frank Reddy 9 months, 1 week ago
Ha...Susan, I think my wheat bread cucumber sandwiches are an exception to the rule.
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